Forged
by wild-springflower
Summary: "Caleb?" Shelby turned towards the blonde haired agent, taking note of his slightly hollow cheeks and dark eyes. "What's wrong?" "She was involved." He stated, voice barely more than a whisper. *Missing scene from s1 e22, spoilers!*


**A/N: Hello! So, I just finished the first season of this beautiful show and am super excited for the premiere of the second season! This is just a little scene I thought was missing from the final episode because I felt like it needed to be discussed and try as I might, I can't get Caleb out of my head. I just can't hate the kid, even though the show was determined to try. Anywho, this is my first endeavor into the Quantico universe, but it may not be the last. I hope you enjoy!**

"It's finally over. After everything we've been through, it's almost hard to believe."

"Yeah."

"Caleb?" Shelby turned towards the blonde haired agent, taking note of his slightly hollow cheeks and dark eyes. "What's wrong?"

"She was involved." He stated, voice barely more than a whisper.

Shelby's perfectly trimmed eyebrows dove together in confusion, "Who was involved?" She pressed.

Caleb turned towards her and Shelby had to physically hold back a gasp at the sheer amount of emotion swirling behind Caleb's eyes. "My mom Shelby, my mom was involved."

"What are you talking about?" Shelby hissed, gripping Caleb's elbow tightly and dragging him away from the mingling crowds of people mourning the death of a good friend and fellow agent.

"We pieced together the entire puzzle, but there was one thing that didn't quite fit. Those pills that Alex had to switch out, the pills that my mom was supposedly taking." Caleb shook his head and sneered, "She never needed them. We worked things out from there."

"And you confronted her with this?"

"Me and Alex yeah, she didn't confess of course but, she can't lie to me. I can tell when she's preaching."

Shelby took a moment to process the information she'd just received, puckering her lips in contemplation before coming to a conclusion. "Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Caleb questioned, shoving his hands in his pockets and adamantly refusing to move.

"Just _trust_ me, come on." Shelby pulled on Caleb's elbow until he relented and let her drag him outside and to her car. She coaxed him into the passenger seat and then settled into the driver's, starting the car and pulling out of the packed driveway.

The drive to her apartment was made in silence, Caleb staring out the window and biting at his lower lip in anger and frustration. Shelby knew he needed to process what he'd learned, and she knew he couldn't do that surrounded by prying eyes. The two of them may not have been involved romantically any more but she still cared about him, would go so far as to say she loved him. She wasn't sure where their relationship would go in the future but that didn't matter at the moment, no. What mattered was Caleb and what he was going through.

Caleb recognized the parking lot of her apartment complex immediately and his entire body tensed. "What are we doing here?" He asked warily.

"Getting away from the crowd. Just, come on up, for a little while. If you don't want to stay you don't have to."

Caleb nodded softly with a sigh, "Okay."

He followed her up the three flights of steps silently and watched with feigned interest as she unlocked the door and busied about returning her coat to the rack and hanging her purse in its usual place by the door. "Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

"No thanks." He replied immediately before rethinking his answer. "Some water would be nice?" It was a hesitant question.

Shelby could tell he wasn't quite comfortable with the entire situation, and neither was she, but it was needed. "Of course."

Walking to the kitchen Shelby pulled out two glasses and filled them with ice and water from the fridge before making her way back into the living room where Caleb was standing shuffling his feet awkwardly. She handed him the glass and then sat down on the couch delicately.

Caleb took a large swig from his glass before following suit. "So."

"So." Shelby sighed, knowing it wasn't going to be an easy conversation. "Caleb, I can see the wheels turning. What else is going on in that head of yours?"

"Skip the pleasantries why don't you." Caleb shot back, his voice lacking any venom.

Shelby simply smiled gently, crossing her legs carefully to avoid showing anything she didn't want him to see at the moment. "We've been conversing all afternoon I didn't think pleasantries were necessary."

"They aren't." Caleb huffed, sniffing and running his thumb across his upper lip. "I was just stalling."

"I know." Shelby responded. "Take your time, I just thought it would help if you talked."

Caleb released a heavy sigh before inhaling a shaky breath. When he turned to her his eyes were brimming with tears and it took him a moment to collect his thoughts. "I just keep thinking." He began, voice quivering. "Wondering. If she was just involved with that little bit or, the whole thing from the start. From the first explosion. And then the second one, at the command center. I mean, did she even care? My dad and I were _in_ there. I almost died, my dad _did_ die, and to think that she could have had a part in it. I mean, did she even consider the consequences? Even think about the possibility of either of us dying?" Caleb's face paled as he seemed to come to a different conclusion, his voice deep, dark, when he spoke. "Or did she want us dead all along?"

Shelby waited patiently for Caleb to continue talking, blinking ferociously to keep her own tears at bay.

"I don't- I don't know what to do. I mean we can't _prove_ anything so there's no way for her to pay for what she's done. I _want_ her to pay for what she's done."

"Caleb, I can guarantee with almost one hundred percent certainty that I know exactly what you're going through right now. When I found out my parents only met with me because they wanted to scam me out of more money I was angry and hurt and confused. But mostly I wanted revenge. I know that seems like the _best_ thing right now, but you can't go down that path. I devoted so much of my time to getting even, I called it justice and pretended it was the righteous thing to do, but really, I knew it wasn't. And all it did was make me _more_ angry. _More_ confused. It prolonged my suffering." Shelby shook her head, dabbing at the tears falling from her eyes. "You can't go down that path."

"Yeah, you got it nailed down almost to a T."

"But?"

Caleb inhaled deeply, locking gazes with Shelby, making sure she understood how serious he was. "But you forgot one thing. I'm feeling all of those, but I'm also scared. You- you never had to deal with your parents after they left. You could just forget about them, pretend they were dead like you had your whole life."

Shelby flinched slightly but she could tell Caleb meant no hostility in his words, he was just stating facts that, deep down, she knew to be true.

"But my mom is _every_ where. On TV, on campaign buttons. I'm afraid to even be around her Shelby. And-" Caleb gasped as his tears finally began to fall in earnest. "I've been living with her, in _her_ house, for the past however many months. I have nowhere to go, no way to escape her. I don't know what to do!" Caleb quickly pulled both hands up and hid his face behind them, pulling his legs up in an attempt to shroud himself from the world.

Shelby didn't give him the chance. She wrapped her arms around him, and shushed him gently as he sobbed into her arms. She knew he was tired, knew he was still suffering some withdrawal symptoms. And maybe they were both in need of physical comfort, but whatever the reason, neither of them minded the intimate contact.

"Caleb, listen to me." Shelby began as soon as his sobbing had quieted, her voice strong with conviction. "You don't _ever_ have to go back to her."

"But I don't have my own place." He responded in dismay, wiggling out of her grasp and glancing up at her with wide, glimmering eyes.

"Well, for tonight you can stay here. And tomorrow we'll start looking for a place of your own. Sound like a plan?"

Caleb nodded, wiping at his eyes with a sniff. "Yeah, yeah that sounds good. Are you sure it's not gonna be a problem if I-"

"Caleb," Shelby was quick to shut down that line of thinking, "I wouldn't have suggested it if I thought it was going to be a problem."

Caleb nodded, his eyes drooping.

"Do you need anything else, something to eat, more water?"

He simply shook his head, his gaze was unfocused and his shoulders slumped. It was only a matter of time before he crashed, Shelby figured she could help him along. "Well how about you lay down, relax for a little bit, sound good?"

"Sounds really good." Caleb whispered, leaning against the cream colored pillow propped against the corner of the couch. His eyes were closed before his cheek had even connected with the fabric, the gentle circles Shelby was running up and down his arm certainly not hindering things.

When Alex knocked on her apartment door nearly forty minutes later, Shelby let her in with a finger over her lips, indicating the soundly sleeping form of Caleb on her couch. She motioned toward the kitchen where the two could talk without fear of waking him up.

"I assume he told you." Alex began, sighing heavily.

"Yeah. His mom, I just can't believe it."

"Neither could I but it all makes sense, in a twisted sort of way. How's he handling it?"

Shelby pursed her lips in frustration. "Not well. He's angry and confused and scared. His own mom may have plotted to blow up the building he was in, the building his father was _killed_ in. How would anyone be handling that?"

Alex simply nodded, averting her eyes from the blazing fire that was Shelby's gaze.

She was furious, feeling a fiery hatred toward the woman who claimed to be Caleb's mother. A thought struck her out of the blue, _they were both orphans now._ Because while her parents may have been alive, and his mom was currently holding office as vice-president, none of them deserved the title of family. After everything Caleb had been through, all the suffering and hardships he'd endured, to think that someone of blood-relation had been the cause, even partially, it was enough to make her blood boil. And that monster of a woman had _no_ right to call herself Caleb's mother.

"He's gonna be okay Shelby." Alex reassured, the soft conviction in her voice making Shelby smile.

"Yeah." She responded. Her eyes drifted to the tuft of blonde hair she could barely see poking out from behind the wall that separated the two rooms. It was going to be a long, difficult road to recovery. And she knew neither of them would emerge the same on the other side. But they would both make it. They had a new family, one that was forged instead of made. One that they had bonded with, suffered with, mourned with. "We all will." Shelby smiled, her own voice strong with determination to accept nothing less.


End file.
